Killer Bees Open Border Rivalry with 5-3 Win Over Laredo
October 30, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Rio Grande Valley Dorados News Release
Hidalgo, TX - Jason Tessier celebrated his belated birthday in high style Friday night at the Dodge Arena, as he and Matic Kralj each tallied a pair of goals to lead the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees past the defending Central Hockey League champion Laredo Bucks 5-3 in the Killer Bees home opener.
Tessier, who turned 25 on Thursday, scored his first goal of the game at the 12:26 mark on a power play goal, fresh off of serving five minutes in the box for fighting earlier in the first period. The goal tied the game at 1-1 after the Bucks Steve Simoes opened the game with a goal 8:06 into the contest. Bees captain Sean Gillam gave Rio Grande Valley their first lead of the game with 2:07 remaining in the first period by taking the puck along the left-wing boards and sliding the puck through David Guerrera, while cutting into the left slot.
The lone goal of the second period was tallied by Adam Paiement of Laredo with 7:10 remaining in the period. The play was set up by former Columbus Blue Jacket Chris Nielsen who fired a shot from the left wing boards. Bees goaltender Jeff Levy made a poke save on the shot, but the rebound deflected off newly signed Killer Bee defenseman Calle Aslund and Paiement as they went crashing into the net, along with the puck.
Tessier gave the Bees their second lead of the game with 9:15 remaining, but once again the Bucks tied it up 3-3, and this time with a goal from Scott Kelman less than two minutes later. The game would only stay tied for the next 51-seconds, as Bees forward Matic Kralj danced around the Bucks defense and scored what turned out to be the game winning goal and the goal the Bucks would not be able to answer. It was his fifth game winning goal of his career and he became the first Bees forward to score a goal this season, ending a span of 5 consecutive goals scored by defensemen. Tessier gathered the first "Gordie Howe hat trick" (goal, assist and a fighting major penalty) for the Killer Bees with an assist on Kralj's goal. Kralj added the final piece of the puzzle with an empty net goal with 43-seconds remaining for the 5-3 final.
Kralj joined four other Bees for the best single-game plus/minus ranking (+4) and tied several career highs with his third two-goal game of his career and his third three-point output (2g,1a) in his career. Tessier did the same, by providing his fourth two-goal game of his career.
The offensive performance by the Bees might have overshadowed the great goaltending in the game, but Jeff Levy should not go unnoticed, gaining his first win in his first start of the season and stopping 31 of 34 shots.
Last season, the regular season series record between the two teams heavily favors the Bucks, who won 9 of the 13 meetings, but the Bees have now won three out of the last four regular season meetings at the Dodge Arena and are 3-0-1 overall in their last four regular season matchups. The win is Rio Grande Valley's first of the season and places their record at 1-1-0.
Rio Grande Valley returns to the Dodge Arena ice Saturday night to host the Austin Ice Bats, who defeated the Killer Bees 5-2 in the season opener in Austin last Saturday night.
DATE Fri, Oct 29, 2004 Laredo (3) Rio Grande Valley (5)
SCORE BY PERIODS Laredo 1 1 1 -- 3 Rio Grande Valley 2 0 3 -- 5
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: LAR-Simoes (Paiement) 8:06. RGV-Tessier (powerplay)(Gillam, Emersic) 12:26. RGV-Gillam (Kralj) 17:53. Penalties: Tessier, RGV(Elbowing, Minor, 2 min) 4:52. Makway, LAR (Fisticuffs (Instigator), Minor, 2 min) 4:52. Emersic, RGV (Roughing, Double Minor, 4 min) 4:52. Bes, LAR (Roughing, Double Minor, 4 min) 4:52. Holland, RGV (Fisticuffs, Major, 5 min) 4:52. Tessier, RGV (Fisticuffs, Major, 5 min) 4:52. Makway, LAR (Fisticuffs, Major, 5 min) 4:52. Hiebert, LAR (Fisticuffs, Major, 5 min) 4:52. Makway, LAR (Fisticuffs (Instigator), Misconduct, 10 min) 4:52. Kelman, LAR (Holding Stick, Minor, 2 min) 11:14.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: LAR-Paiement (Kelman, Nielsen) 12:50. Penalties: Hiebert, LAR (Interference, Minor, 2 min) 4:24. Kralj, RGV (Slashing, Minor, 2 min) 19:54.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: RGV-Tessier (Guenther, Helmers) 10:45. LAR-Kelman (Paiement, Nielsen) 12:36. RGV-Kralj (Emersic, Tessier) 13:27. RGV-Kralj (Rangus) 19:17.
SHOTS ON GOAL Laredo 13 10 11 -- 34 Rio Grande Valley 9 9 13 -- 31
POWER PLAY STATS PPG ADV SHG Laredo 0 1 0 Rio Grande Valley 1 2 0
GOALIES AWAY TEAM D MIN S SV David Guerrera LOSS 60:00 31 26 HOME TEAM D MIN S SV Jeff Levy WIN 60:00 34 31
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- Killer Bees Open Border Rivalry with 5-3 Win Over Laredo - Rio Grande Valley Dorados
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